Marvel's Doctor Strange Director Shortlist Reportedly Loses Two Names, Adds A New One

With the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase Three scheduled to launch next year, Marvel Studios is starting to put all of its ducks in a row - and a big part of that mission is finding somebody to direct the upcoming Doctor Strange. Last month a shortlist of four filmmakers being considered for the gig launched online, but now the race has been slightly altered, with two names apparently no longer in consideration and one new one added to the group.

A writer from The Hollywood Reporter took to his Twitter account this afternoon to announce some shakeups in the hunt of a Doctor Strange director, and according to his sources, the filmmakers still in contention for the job include Mark Andrews, best known for being a co-director on Pixar's Brave:

Jonathan Levine, a writer/director who has spent years impressing critics and audiences with movies like The Wackness, 50/50 and Warm Bodies:

And shortlist-newcomer Scott Derrickson, another young writer/director who first broke out in 2005 thriller The Exorcism of Emily Rose and earned a lot of attention for his 2012 horror story Sinister:

The names now missing from this list include Denmark's Nikolaj Arcel, best known for making 2012's A Royal Affair, and Dean Israelite, the up-and-coming director who recently helmed the low-budget sci-fi film Welcome To Yesterday for Paramount Pictures. All of that said, what you see above may not be exclusive. When the shortlist for the job was first revealed, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige did his part to downplay the story and said that while the search is on for a Doctor Strange director, they are casting a wide net that isn't limited to just a couple of names. So while Andrews, Levine and Derrickson may be under consideration, they may not be the only ones.

Where things stand for Doctor Strange is a bit of a mystery right now. While it has been confirmed that the project will be a part of Phase Three - which kicks off with Edgar Wright's Ant-Man - the project doesn't yet have a release date, and therefore doesn't have a production schedule figured out. It's hard to say when any of this info will be revealed, but if I had to make a bet I would put a lot of money on San Diego Comic-Con.